There are a few known analytical tools used in the sales force to assist companies in evaluating their sales processes and potential clients. According to these known methods, a company identifies criteria relating to potential clients, rates the clients based on the criteria and selects a specific client based on the ratings.
U.S. Patent Application Publication No. US 2005/0108103 discloses a method and system by which a “prospect qualifying calculator” is used to create a list of relevant factors to consider when determining whether a potential client should be targeted for a sale. According to this method, numerous characteristics of each prospective client are evaluated using a scoring system to determine whether the potential client is a suitable candidate. While this method is of interest, it is time consuming since it requires all of the client's characteristics to be analyzed before reaching a determination as to whether the client is suitable. Thus, it is not possible to identify and eliminate unsuitable clients early in the evaluation process.
Additionally, U.S. Patent Application Publication No. US 2005/0222850 discloses a business practices alignment method which, in part, analyzes conflicts among members of an organization. According to this method, members of the organization who can identify conflicts are identified, information is gathered from such members regarding the potential conflicts and alternative resolutions to the conflicts are analyzed. While this method is of interest, it is performed in the context of a particular business' own internal practices, and does not consider a sales situation where a seller and potential customer work together to resolve conflicts.